Courtesy of Haggerty Museum
Metaphorical reaches of landscape thread through the exhibition “Current Tendencies IV: Topography Transformed” at the Haggerty Museum of Art. A hole in the ground may not seem like a big deal, but in photographs and videos by Joseph Mougel it becomes an obstacle, a beginning, a danger, even a place to hide. Exclosure offers a wonderful twist as it is projected on the floor. Our eyes look down but the video directs us upward, as though gazing from the bottom of a dark pit.
Shane McAdams starts with tangible nature in Splayed Oak. Elongated cross sections of a tree are covered by glossy, colorful stripes made with ballpoint pen and resin, dripping at the bottom like stalactites. The candy colors are alluring, and their artificiality is a purposeful juxtaposition against the organic forms.
Also brightly vibrant is Derrick Buisch’s Color Chart City (Buildings). Dozens of paintings are arranged in a grid pattern, their endless variation but overall cohesion rather like the fabric of a city. His linear compositions playfully resolve into fanciful glyphs; some suggest buildings, others could be interesting kitchen implements.
Keith Nelson’s temporary constructions give something as humble as a cardboard box new life as part of an ensemble cast. Plastic, metal, wood, even the odd Styrofoam package, are stacked together as a colorful, textured whole that becomes more than the sum of its parts.
Outside the museum, bauenstudio (Marc Roehrle and Mo Zell) have created Breaking Grounds. It is a viewing platform made of largely unfinished wood and decorated by a suspended sheath of translucent polycarbonate panels. Reaching the top of the ramp is like a journey to a small tree house and an unusual vantage point for the surrounding grounds.
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Current Tendencies looks to the present, but also on view is a bit of the past. In 1983 when the museum was being built, Keith Haring visited Milwaukee and painted a mural on the plywood fence surrounding the site. A number of these panels are displayed in the galleries, offering a reflection on how art can inject a positive spirit even into the raw topography of a construction zone.
Through Aug. 30 at the Haggerty Museum of Art, 530 N. 13th St.
